Nanoscale physics

Nanoparticle-enhanced phase change materials: Current status and challenges 
M. Arıcı
Kocaeli University, Engineering Faculty, Mechanical Engineering Department, Umuttepe Campus, Kocaeli, 41001 Turkey
E-mail: muslumarici@gmail.com

Phase change materials (PCMs) have been used in a wide range of engineering applications for thermal management of electronic components, thermal energy storage, peak shaving of energy demand in buildings, etc. The characteristics makes the PCM so attractive is their latent heat of fusion, thank to which, a great amount of energy can be absorbed in a nearly stable temperature range. However, the poor thermal conductivity of commonly used PCM limits their effective utilization since charging (melting) and discharging (solidification) rate is relatively low. One of the promising techniques to enhance effective thermal conductivity of PCMs is to disperse particles in nanosize with high thermal conductivity into PCMs. The mixture is called nanoparticle-enhanced PCM (NePCM). This technique requires special attention to some issues brought by loading of nanoparticles, such as agglomeration of nanoparticles, reduction in energy storage capacity. Moreover, augmenting the effective thermal conductivity improves charging and discharging rate but also increases the heat transfer rate when the phase change is completed, which might be desirable for some applications such as when integrated to external wall of buildings. This study focuses the NePCM, discussing its merits and drawbacks for different applications.